Saturday, February 17, 2018

Sunny Brae Middle School teacher Anne Youmans led a last minute review of her choreography coaching prior to the 1:45 p.m. performance on the Arcata Plaza.

More than 100 Arcata Elementary School and Sunny Brae Middle School students sang and danced to "Home We'll Go" at the sixth annual One Billion Rising event on the Arcata Plaza on Friday afternoon. "We're making a statement through dance to rise, resist and unite to make change happen so our homes and workplaces are safer for all of us," said event organizer Jessie Hobba. See a slideshow of photos from the event below.

Hobba and others from the local V-Day Humboldt movement started the local One Billion Rising dance event in 2012 as part of their activities on ending violence against women and girls. In her introduction, Hobba explained the origins of the "One Billion Rising" term by citing the United Nations statistic that one out of three women worldwide will be beaten or raped. That works out to about 1 billion women worldwide.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Eight-year-old Eureka Cub Scout Noah Coulombe loves participating in his pack’s annual popcorn sales project. He enjoys both making the sales and carefully tracking of his progress toward his goals. He also enjoys supporting his pack in their fundraising efforts.

Noah was one of his pack’s top salesmen in 2016, when he pulled in $1,175, and was well on his way to the top spot in 2017, so far ahead in his sales efforts that he increased his goal to $3,000. Noah spent his days and evenings making sales and carefully keeping track of his receipts and his progress when the unexpected happened.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Crazy week? No time to read our long form cover story about the arts program at Pelican Bay State Prison? No problem, we got you covered. Here are five things we learned from our visit. And you can always check out the full cover story right here.

1. Several Humboldt residents and programs bring classes to prisoners in both general population and solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison as part of the state's Arts in Corrections Programs. Those classes include theater, guitar and drawing. We shadowed Cecelia Holland, a Fortuna author who teaches creative writing. Holland originally got involved with the program during the 1990s but had to stop when the program ended in 2003.

2. There were no arts classes for solitary confinement inmates prior to 2014. Better programming for prisoners in the Secure Housing Unit (known as the SHU) was one of the demands of a hunger strike staged in 2011, along to an end to indefinite confinement. Now those inmates have access to many different programs, including one on entrepreneurship and another with peer-led counseling. Holland says she enjoys working with her SHU students, who are among the most creative and hard-working writers she teaches.

Friday, January 5, 2018

The stabbing victim has been identified as Vernon James Weatherford, 34.
Weatherford’s autopsy is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2018.

UPDATE:

HCSO

Booking photo for Loureiro

The sheriff’s office confirmed this morning that a suspect in the stabbing death, Ronald Joshua Loureiro, was booked into the jail yesterday on “charges of homicide related to the Orick homicide and on parole hold.” The Arcata Police Department previously identified Loureiro, 29, as a "validated gang member" after a traffic stop in December that yielded a .40 caliber handgun and an ounce of methamphetamine.

Previously:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has launched a homicide investigation after a man was stabbed to death in Orick.

The Sheriff’s Office received a call shortly after 11 a.m. reporting that a 35-year-old male had been stabbed in Orick near U.S. Highway 101 and Dryden’s Road, according to a press release. Officers with the California State Parks and the California Highway Patrol responded, located the victim and began CPR but were unsuccessful.

A suspect who reportedly fled the scene of the stabbing was located and detained by a CHP officer. The incident remains under investigation and the sheriff’s office has yet to release the identity of either the suspect or victim.

This is the county's second homicide of 2018. See the full press release from the Sheriff’s Office copied below.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office has identified the victim of a fatal Jan. 1 Southern Humboldt shooting as 28-year-old Saul Perez Pacheco.

A passerby found Pacheco bleeding of a gunshot wound on the side of Alderpoint Road at about 5:30 a.m. and tried to rush him to Jerold Phelps Hospital in Gareberville but Pacheco died en route.

The Sheriff's Office is seeking the public's help in learning more about Pacheco and his connection to Humboldt County. He's described as standing about 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing 225 pounds, with a tattoo of a cross on his left bicep and another of the grim reaper on his right arm. Officials ask that anyone with information about the case call investigator Scott Hicks at 445-7301.

Monday, January 1, 2018

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is investigating its first homicide of 2018 after a man died of a gunshot wound this morning while being rushed to Jerold Phelps Community Hospital.

According to a press release from the Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched to the Southern Humboldt hospital shortly before 5:30 a.m. after a passerby found the young male victim lying on the side of Alderpoint Road. The passerby tried to take the gunshot victim to the hospital but he died en route.

The victim has not yet been identified, but is described as standing about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, appearing to be in his mid 20s to early 30s with a dark complexion. The Sheriff's Office asks anyone with information about the shooting or the victim to call the numbers below.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

UPDATE: The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office has identified the deputies involved in the shooting as
Deputy Rosalie Freixas and Sgt. Gregory Musson. Freixas, who was injured, is "doing well and recovering from her injuries."

In its press release, the officers are credited with exemplifying "courage and strength throughout this incident."

Previously:

With several members of the incident management team standing by, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told reporters this morning that the man suspected of wounding one of his deputies in a shootout Sunday morning is a Mexican citizen who entered the country illegally.

According to Honsal, deputies were dispatched after a neighbor called in a domestic disturbance in the 700 block of Coppini Lane, in Ferndale, at around 12:19 a.m. on Sunday. The reporting party said the people involved in the disturbance did not speak English. Deputies arrived at 12:46 a.m., stationing themselves outside a small "barn-like structure" and calling in through an open doorway. A woman ran out of the building, saying that she had been held against her will by a man later identified as Hugo Parral-Aguierre, and that Parral-Aguierre had a firearm. It was later learned that Parral-Aguierre had been in an argument with the woman's boyfriend, who fled the scene after Parral-Aguierre allegedly shot at him.

Spotting Parral-Aguierre through the doorway, deputies drew their weapons and asked him to drop his gun, Honsal said. He allegedly opened fire, shooting one round from a 12-gauge shotgun that struck the female deputy in the left shoulder just above her bullet-proof vest. The deputies returned fire while pulling the female victim to safety, then called for countywide mutual aid. Officers from multiple agencies arrived. A SWAT team found Parral-Aguirre on a bed on the bottom floor of the residence. He allegedly resisted but was taken into custody. He was given medical treatment for three gunshot wounds at St. Joseph Hospital then released to the Humboldt County jail. The deputy, whose name has not been released, was treated and released. Honsal says she is on leave and doing well.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

A Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy and a suspect were both hospitalized early this morning after a shootout at a residence in the 700 block of Ferndale’s Coppini Lane.

The deputy, whose name hasn’t been released, is in stable condition, according to the sheriff’s office. The suspect, Hugo Parral-Aguierre, 30, was shot multiple times. His condition is currently unknown.

The incident began when deputies were dispatched to the residence for a welfare check shortly after midnight and arrived at 12:50 a.m. According to the press release, the deputy was shot “shortly after arrival.” A standoff at the residence followed and Parral-Aguierre was taken into custody shortly before 4:30 a.m. and transported to a local hospital for treatment.

It’s not immediately clear, but it seems Parral-Aguierre was suffered the gunshot wounds during the initial exchange that wounded the deputy.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

John Sepulvado, host of San Francisco public radio station KQED's California Report, is reporting from KHSU this week. The California Report is broadcast on public radio stations across the state. This morning, KQED aired an interview with Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal in which he talked about the impact of prison realignment on local jails, saying that people who would normally sober up and receive services in the Humboldt County correctional facility are instead being released onto the streets in the midst of mental health crises, creating a situation that looks like "the walking dead."

Sepulvado also interviewed a man recently released from the jail, Earl Gordon, describing his face as "busted up, like he spent the night sleeping on a pillow that was made of fists." Gordon begins crying during the interview, describing an overdose in 1997, and saying he is "very, very high" during the interview.

In a phone interview, Sepulvado says he doesn't see Gordon as just "someone that's high on the street and worthy of judgement" but, rather, as a person enduring a mental health crisis and not receiving the services he needs.

"The problem with methamphetamine has not gone away here," Sepulvado told the Journal. Sepulvado studied at College of the Redwoods for a semester in 1998 and says he is invested in exposing the "disintegration of our rural communities."

Thursday, December 7, 2017

The Eureka Police Department has determined that an 18-year-old girl found dead in December of 2016 died of asphyxia and is investigating the case as a homicide.

On Dec. 9, 2016, medics were summoned to a residence in the 300 block of P Street and arrived to find Jennika Lee Suazo, a student at Zoe Barnum High School, dead.

After the death, detectives began investigating the other 22 people who resided at the P Street residence. Autopsy results returned in June confirmed the cause of death and EPD has proceeded with its homicide investigation. It’s not immediately clear what spurred EPD’s press release (copied below) some five months later.